Sunday, June 29, 2008

Iran-Contra's 'Lost Chapter'

By Robert ParryJune 30, 2008

As historians ponder George W. Bush’s disastrous presidency, they may wonder how Republicans perfected a propaganda system that could fool tens of millions of Americans, intimidate Democrats, and transform the vaunted Washington press corps from watchdogs to lapdogs.

To understand this extraordinary development, historians might want to look back at the 1980s and examine the Iran-Contra scandal’s “lost chapter,” a narrative describing how Ronald Reagan’s administration brought CIA tactics to bear domestically to reshape the way Americans perceived the world.

I've read Robert Parry with great interest for a long time, so I've heard of Walter Raymond & the "Office of Public Diplomacy" before. I understand the significance of these things.

However, today's article does NOT make clear whether this chapter has just recently come to light. Is it something Mr Parry has known of for a long time, but only now made public? Or is the document an entirely new "discovery"?

"Only now – with more than 4,100 U.S. soldiers and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis dead – are many of these Americans realizing that ___ were manipulated by clever propaganda, that their perceptions had been managed."

------------------This important sentence has a typo . Propaganda operates on an emotional level, circumventing higher reasoning . One way to hasten peoples realization that they are being manipulated is to discuss the various techniques the media employs . Even a cursory understanding of these methods will afford most that the media is actively attempting to control . Doesn't this make them complicit in the death and suffering for they are the willing messengers ?